Jessie leaped the last six rungs, landed on the roof and got out of her way, snickering at her horrible cursing. She surprised him and sprang off the top rung high into the air and spun half way around so she was stretched out.
Jessie had to scramble to catch her before she landed back first on the pebble covered roof and grunted as she landed in his arms.
“Cheater.” he said as she wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him deeply.
They parted after long moments and he stood her back on her feet. The gulps of bitter concoction she’d chugged had given her back the energy and spirit the runners had sapped from her. She stroked the hair out of face and stared up at him.
“We need to be honest. This may be our last chance to talk.” she said. “Can you handle it?”
Jessie quelled his first response. His pat answer that everything would work out, everything would be fine. They’d find a cure, eliminate the cult and live happily ever after.
She waited. Made him say it. Made him face it.
“Yes.”
“I can feel it burrowing into me.” she said. “It’s cold and it’s coiled inside my head. It’s like sand in an hourglass. It is slow, sometimes very slow, but it never stops. It has control now, Jessie. It is moving fast. So fast I can feel it.”
Her eyes flashed up at him in the waning moonlight. One still a glowing emerald green, the other darker and dull.
“I do not think Stevens can help. I think it is too late. If this is true, I do not want to walk the earth forever. I do not want to be one of them.”
Jessie swallowed, knew what she was asking. Knew it would be a lie to tell her everything would be all right. Knew he couldn’t promise a happy outcome. Knew they had to try anyway.
“You won’t.” he said.
She was an open book, her face raw and unafraid as she searched his eyes, looking for the truth. Looking for the promise.
“I believe you.” she finally said, touched his scar gently then turned toward the roof access door.
“Come.” she added lightly. “We have empires to destroy and people to kill.”
129
Doctor Stevens
The Twenty Third Psalm kept dancing through Jessies head as they descended the pitch-black stairs. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil.
He did fear the evil, though. The evil worming it’s way through her, eating away at her and destroying who she is. Turning her into something she’s not. Their enhanced eyes saw easily in the darkness and they followed the stairs to the lowest level, two stories below ground and saw light peeking under the door.
Scarlet led the way out into the corridor and they followed it to the sounds of activity half a building away. A single guard sat in the hallway outside of the labs in a chair with his chin resting on his chest. His rifle leaned against the wall and he was gently snoring. An ordinary man could be reasoned with, maybe knocked unconscious or tied up. The movement’s people weren’t ordinary. They were dosed and drugged. Blinded and brainwashed. They would eagerly lay down their lives for the Lord of the Underworld. For the paradise he promised in the next life for the warriors who lost their lives in his service. Scarlet and Jessie had to be as hard as they were and he didn’t hesitate. When they reached the bearded man, he twisted his head with quick jerk. The neck snapped and he let out a quiet surprised sound and that was all. He went from living to dying without ever waking up. Jessie rested his chin back on his chest and they slipped through the door.
Doctor Stevens looked up in surprise when he saw them enter his lab. He had almost nodded off waiting on the latest batch of devil’s breath as it was dehydrated and pulverized to dust. He sprang to his feet but Jessie was on him in a blur of motion and had him against a wall. Scarlet walked up and his eyes got big when he recognized her. When he saw the black runners twisting away from her scarred cheek, climbing up her neck and disappearing into her hairline.
“Scarlet.” he asked, intrigued by the patterns. “What has happened?”
He didn’t fight them, seemed genuinely concerned and didn’t ask about his guard. Jessie relaxed his grip around the man’s neck. He hurried over and turned her head to the light to get a better look at the darkness invading her skin. There were cages with zombies in them but they hadn’t reacted to the humans bustling in. They stood motionless with electrodes sticking out of their heads. Jessie stared at them then poked one and it didn’t move. He closed the curtains so he wouldn’t have to look at them then moved to guard the door while Doctor Stevens gingerly touched her face, asked if it hurt.
“Across the hall.” he said, making a decision then bustled her towards the door. “I need to run some tests.”
Stevens drew blood, listened to her heart and played with his microscopes. Jessie pulled a stool over to the door and kept watch. The room was large, filled with lights and equipment and machines that looked like they did complicated things. There was a large, curtained cage on one wall but it was quiet, no riled up undead to disturb them.
The minutes turned to hours.
When the shift change guard came, he met a similar fate as the other and was hidden away in a broom closet.
Time dragged by. Centrifuges spun, Doc Stevens tut-tutted and made small talk, he questioned them about everything they’d done so far to fight the infection.
